Covey is pushing his new '8th habit'

PROVO — The greeter at Stephen Covey's house is 15-year-old mutt Sheldon S. Kornpett, 100 in dog years, who has had knee and cataract surgery and maintains a stiff upper lip in the face of kidney failure.

Covey, 72, the spry author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," is in his home library, recording the audio version of "The 8th Habit." The print sequel to "7 Habits" is out now, 15 years after the original seven.

Covey is timid around strangers. But an audience of strangers feeds him energy, and he has invited a half-dozen to his home to listen as he records. He's the kind of host who invites guests who need to leave early to help themselves to the refrigerator on the way out. He locks into a handshake and won't let go. "The eyes are the light of the soul," he says.

What is the eighth habit? "Find your voice, and inspire others to find theirs." That proves difficult to accomplish, and "The 8th Habit" is 50 pages longer than the original seven combined.

Covey had planned to crank out "The 8th Habit" in six months, in time for the 10th anniversary of "7 Habits." That was in 1999. But, just as the most helpful psychologists are often those with a loose grip on their own emotional lives, Covey and aides are often found operating in a manner that seems anything but highly effective. And so, Sheldon S. Kornpett aged past him from puppyhood, and an editor or two at Simon & Schuster went gray awaiting the windfall.

The windfall, at last, has arrived. "The 8th Habit" may be a challenge to absorb, but it is a shoo-in best seller even as the 15th-anniversary edition of "7 Habits" will carve unprecedented ground in the business/self-help genre. "The 7 Habits" has sold 15 million copies and continues to sell 50,000 to 100,000 a month.

A survey by Chief Executive magazine chose "7 Habits" as the most influential book of the 20th century. Time magazine in 1996 named Covey one of the 25 most influential Americans.

Covey doesn't like to be recognized and uses extreme down-dressing and a cap over his shaved head to travel incognito. But he's constantly on his cell phone to family and says his voice gives him away because, at 1.5 million copies, "7 Habits" is the best-selling non-fiction audio book in history.

No. 8 is a half-ton habit that invites the merging of talent, passion and conscience that few mortals accomplish — otherwise we would be populated with Gandhis. Simply, Habit 8 asserts that everyone has an inner longing to seize the day and live a life of contribution. It requires heavy lifting, and Covey challenges readers to get there.